The present invention relates to hand sanitizing wash stations, particularly to wash stations suitable for use in commercial environments and especially for use in locations where food is handled such as in restaurant kitchens, fast food franchises and food processing plants. Food handlers are required by federal, state and local government agencies to maintain their hands in a sanitized condition. Food handlers are required to wash their hands after handling money, after smoking or eating, after performing any cleaning job, after using the bathroom, after any breaks, before coming on duty and in general frequently during the day. Standard sinks with manually operated water faucets and manually operated soap dispensers have been found unsatisfactory as the sinks and soap dispensers and their associated parts become unsanitary through continual contact with users. For example, when a user turns a faucet on or off or pumps soap, the user not only deposits germs but picks up germs as well.
As state and local government agencies are involved in regulating the sanitation requirements for food handlers, the regulations vary from city to city. The length of time users must spend in sanitizing or washing their hands is generally regulated and is often referred to as the "legal wash time". A persistent problem of employers of food handlers is ensuring that their employees meet the hand washing regulations and the legal wash times. Employees may fail to apply soap to their hands or they may fail to wash their hands for the required legal wash time. Automatic dispersal of soap and water helps to eliminate these problems.
Due to the varying regulations on hand washing, it is desirable to be able to vary the length of time for which the water is dispensed. While it is desirable to have the water dispensed for a minimum length of time to conserve water, in many cases where the dispensing of water is timed, the water is shut off before users will have had sufficient time to thoroughly finish cleaning and rinsing their hands. If the water is automatically set to dispense for a substantially longer period of time than the minimum legal wash time, many users will complete washing their hands well before the water is shut off, thereby wasting water. It has therefore been found desirable to have water automatically dispensed for a period of time which is responsive to the individual needs of users such that a user may shut off the water at any time after the legal wash time has been met, and to automatically shut off the water after a sufficiently long length of time if a user should fail to turn off the water. To help insure that users will turn off the water it has been found desirable to have the water turned off automatically when a user activates a hot-air dryer for drying his or her hands.